EDITORIAL: Heroes step up in crisis

Just as firefighters ran up the steps to save people in the 2001 World Trade Center bombing, so too did police, emergency personnel and many others rush to aid people in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing Monday afternoon.

Soldiers home from Afghanistan pulled wreckage away from victims, and some runners who just completed the exhausting 26.2-mile run went straight to the hospital to donate blood to bombing victims.

This story of bravery is not new to America. In fact, Patriots' Day is celebrated to mark the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the outset of the Revolutionary War against the British army, the world's greatest military at that time.

We see this type of heroism play out on a daily basis across our country. As President Barack Obama said in the wake of this terrible event, we are not Republicans, Democrats, or even Americans, but people reaching out to help each other in a time of tragedy.

With three dead, including an 8-year-old boy whose father ran the marathon, and more than 140 injured, this incident is much like 9/11 in that we will all remember where we were and how we felt when we heard the news and saw the terror in the midst of one of our greatest cities.

We mourn for those senselessly lost in this heinous act. We thank God, too, that more weren't killed and that all of the local runners came out unscathed.

Security will be heightened at similar major events in the future, much as it was after 9/11, requiring greater awareness by civilians as well as police. And though we will never be completely safe from terrorist attacks, we must show that we are not afraid to move forward with our lives and continue holding the celebrations and attending the events that are uniquely American.

The world is a dangerous place. But in our nation, a nation based on free thought, speech and action, we cannot give in to terrorists and stop our lives. We must keep on running the race or we will lose the freedom our nation's first patriots sought.